Is NZ dragging the blockchain?

August 1, 2019

In 1995 the "internet" became the hip new thing. Media marvelled at the technology, and in a time capsule video from America's Today show, its presenters are baffled. One asks, "What is 'internet' anyway?" while reporter Katie Couric says an @ symbol either means "about" or "around," and even Microsoft founder Bill Gates likens the internet to a fashionable trend. A stuffy, older-looking executive belies his appearance to boldly predict that within five years every business, "no matter how large, no matter how small," will be on the internet.

Almost 25 years later, the same is being said of blockchain - an emerging technology that has been described as the biggest thing since the internet.

Yet you would be forgiven for not having heard of blockchain - and if you have, you probably can't explain how it works.